In this paper, we characterize the percolation condition for a continuum secondary cognitive radio network under the SINR model. We show that the well-established condition for continuum percolation does not hold true in the SINR regime. Thus, we find the condition under which a cognitive radio network percolates. We argue that due to the SINR requirements of the secondaries along with the interference tolerance of the primaries, not all the deployed secondary nodes necessarily contribute towards the percolation process- even though they might participate in the communication process. We model the invisibility of such nodes using the concept of Poisson thinning, both in the presence and absence of primaries. Invisibility occurs due to nodes that i) cannot decode transmissions except from their nearest neighbors, ii) are always interfered, and iii) belong to isolated components. We find the thinning probability in terms of primary and secondary densities, communication radii, and interference cancellation coefficient. Further, we show how the effective coverage radius shrinks which also adds to the thinning. Theoretical findings are validated through simulations.
